Leaving the Darkness
by Dru619
Summary: It is criminal that a tiny child never stared up at Mulder and Scully and proclaimed proudly that they were mommy and daddy. Scully's accepted a transfer back to D.C., anxious to start anew with Mulder and their daughter. A post-IWTB fic.
1. Chapter 1

Dear readers,

It seems like a hundred years since I last posted on here! It's great to come back and feel so warmly welcomed, like no time has passed at all. When I first got in to The X-Files 5 years ago I started my story "Warm Laundry" about Mulder, Scully, and their days of getting William back. Unfortunately, I never finished it but I have re-visited the series this year and have been barraged with tons more feelings. It's crazy how quickly they can do that to us!

I can't say with any certainty that this story will have a conclusion, but I do have a lot of ideas and I'd like to see them pan out. If you are at all familiar with my work you know I LIVE FOR THE FLUFF! So, fair warning.:)

Thanks for reading! I will try my very best to update as much as I can.

-Dru

* * *

Leigha Mulder awoke with a start. Wisps of curly blonde bangs stuck to her sweaty forehead that scrunched in a concentrated effort to figure out where she was, who she was, where that other little blonde girl had dashed away to. _Emily_. Even though her tiny heart was fluttering uncomfortably, like a bird trapped in her chest, she didn't make any noise. Instead she took two calculated deep breaths before pushing her blankets off of herself and crawling out of her toddler bed.

It wasn't much of a walk to her parents room, but her sleepy legs were still wobbly and it was taking longer than it usually did. The seemingly endless darkness spurred the little girl forward and she broke in to a small sprint the last few steps. She reached her daddy's side of the bed first, his face towards her, breathing rhythmically in sleep. Even just seeing him, seeing that he was okay, was doing a lot to calm her. She started to flail a little arm up and down, hitting his with tiny swaps.

"Daddy," she called. "Daddy asleep? Daaaaddy...,"

Dana Scully stirred from her side of the bed, an unmistakable little voice breaking her from sleep. She sat up, peering over the sleeping mass next to her down at her toddler daughter, still swatting at her father. "Daddy."

"Leigha?" Scully said, elevating a bit over the snores of the little girls father. Leigha's eyes snapped up to meet her mother's, using the bed as a guide to make her way over to her. She lifted her arms high over her head and was lifted up effortlessly. "What are you doing awake?"

Leigha balanced on Scully's lap, yawning hugely. "Emily."

Scully was momentarily taken a back. It wasn't the first time her daughter had claimed to have seen the daughter she had lost so long ago, but it had been maybe a month or so since the last mention. Scully pulled her daughter down to rest underneath her chin, hugging her tightly. Leigha had really been a miracle against all odds. The fact that she had been born healthy (to a mother, Dana Scully, and a father, Fox Mulder) was absolutely incredible in itself. After all the debilitating loss the two partners had faced in over their decade together, Scully wasn't sure they'd ever experience anything close to this again. Sometimes Scully felt unbelievably sad and overwhelmed with crushing guilt that Leigha was growing up in this darkness that seemed to follow her and Mulder around. But, that was all about to change soon.

Leigha patted her mother's side lazily before sliding off of her and balancing on her own little knees between Scully and Mulder. She pointed to Mulder.

"Daddy asleep?" she questioned, the picture of seriousness. Scully stifled a laugh. She was absolutely her father's daughter. Scully nodded.

"You do that to daddy you know. You wear him out, Ley."

Two days a week, Scully took Leigha to a preschool down the road from the hospital she worked at, but the rest of her days were spent with Mulder at home. It was very obvious that Mulder enjoyed it; he had recently taught Leigha how to set a table and was practically _giddy_ when Scully returned home later that evening. He adored their daughter and, in turn, Leigha was usually unable to detach herself from her father. Scully used to twinge with hurt when scraped knees were met with a call for daddy, but Leigha had so much love to give, and could usually be found at her mother's feet as soon as she walked through the door.

"Awake?" Leigha asked Scully, hovering her hand experimentally over Mulder's back, now turned to her. Scully hated to wake him but before she could open her mouth to attempt any words of protest, Leigha hit her tiny palm against him one more time. This time, Mulder rolled over, eyes cracking open and darting every which way, startled.

"Leigha," Scully groaned guiltily. Leigha curled her body over her knees, face pressed against Mulder's pillow to look straight in to his face.

"You was sleepin'." Baby breath was warm on his cheeks. Mulder's eyes fell shut again.

"_Was_ sleeping," Mulder reiterated, grumbly. Leigha gave Scully a look and the two of them giggled. Mulder sat up and stretched his arms out before padding over to the bathroom. "Real funny, girls. Reaaaal funny."

They would be moving in a few weeks. Scully had accepted a transfer to another hospital in D.C., Mulder still with an open invitation to come back and help the FBI. Neither knew how any of this was going to work out and, with Leigha's recent visions, they didn't know how life in _general_ was going to work out either. Mulder and Scully would quicker die than allow another child to be taken from them.

For now, that was all on hold. They had to pack. They had a jumpy, bubbly, intensely active, insanely smart 2 and a half year old to wrangle and explain all this to. Scully played with the curly ends of Leigha's hair as Mulder crawled back in to bed, butting his head against Leigha's belly and getting a flurry of giggles in response before the girl toppled over between them. He flung his arm across Leigha's middle, resting the hand of the same arm on Scully's side.

"I can't believe mommy let you wake me up," Mulder teased, his voice still low with sleep. "Mommy's mean." Scully shot Mulder a look over their tiny child, Mulder grinning hugely at her. Leigha's blinks had become further and further apart, yawning again. She attempted to pat Mulder's head but in her pre-sleepy haze her hand landed flat on his face instead.

"Not mean," Leigha whispered. She finally zonked out and Mulder leaned over to steal a kiss from Scully.

"Not mean," Mulder agreed, feigning reluctance. Scully smiled, deciding against telling him about Leigha's dream for now.

"Maybe she'll be a good baby and nap for you," Scully patted Mulder's chest over their daughter's head. She had to be up in 2 hours. Mulder snorted.

"Now _that_ would truly be a miracle."

They would be moving in 15 days.


	2. Chapter 2

II.

The next week flew by and virtually zero packing had gotten done. With Scully continuing to work long hours the task fell mainly to Mulder. He continued to chase Leigha around the house and engage anonymously in conspiracy theory message boards during nap time.

"What is in that bowl little girl?"

Scully had just finished cleaning the dishes from dinner. There was a daunting 8 more days left until the move. Mulder had disappeared in to his office and Leigha was alternating jumping up and down on the sofa and leaping off it to the floor. Her red checkered dress was crumpled with wear from the day. She clutched a tiny Snoopy decorated bowl and paused, out of breath, at her mother's question.

"Ummmmm...," Leigha thought critically for a moment, Scully sitting next to her on the couch and wrapping an arm around her little body. Leigha giggled, swiping unruly hair off her juice stained cheeks. "M AND M'S!"

"M and M's, huh?" Scully smiled as Leigha pinched another candy between her fingers and offered it to her.

"Mommy have it," she said leaning back against her mother's arm. Scully accepted and let Leigha stick it on her tongue which absolutely delighted the little girl, laughing happily.

"Where's Daddy?"

Leigha scooted off the couch and began to twirl around with her dessert, having to be in constant motion.

"Ummmm...," Leigha hummed again before pointing towards the honey colored light flooding from a crack in Mulder's office door.

"Can you sit and finish your M and M's?" Scully took her arm and gently guided the toddler back to the sofa, scooping a book off the floor and depositing it in to her lap. Leigha nodded wordlessly, a little baby smirk quirked on her face. Scully smiled and shook her head, kissing Leigha's forehead before getting up, knocking once then scooting in to Mulder's office.

"Come iiin," Mulder drawled distractedly. His eyes were scanning across a word document opened on his laptop. Scully crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame.

"Mulder, what are you doing?"

"Well," he said after a minute, turning his gaze on to Scully. Even after all this time he sometimes couldn't help but fall back in to the nostalgia of their days together in the basement office of the Hoover building. He also couldn't help but think, even now, weary at the end of another long day, that Scully looked so effortlessly _stunning_. "I'm definitely not fielding e-mails from Skinner."

"Skinner?" Scully's eyebrows raised momentarily and she probably would have reacted less subdued if she wasn't so exhausted. The admission hadn't even pried her from the doorway. She knew he had been in touch, but not to what extent.

"He wants to meet with me when we get to DC...there are some cases that...,"

"Jesus, Mulder." Scully's hand moved to massage the bridge of her nose, the lingering headache she had been fighting all day beginning to fire at full force.

"Just as a consult, Scully. I'm not going out in to the field."

"Yet!" Scully said, eyebrows knitted now. The two of them regarded each other in silence for a few beats. "It's only going to be a matter of time before it drags you back in, Mulder." He didn't know what to say. Especially considering he knew Scully was right. That scared him more then anything.

More silence passed before Mulder shut his laptop with a temporary finality.

"Where's the holy terror?"

Scully smiled, unfolding her arms as Mulder stood up from his desk.

"I don't know, probably jumping on more furniture," Scully scolded as Mulder took her arm. "You do know there are grapes in the fridge, right?"

Mulder shrugged apologetically. "You only live once, Scully."

Tiny, yet surprisingly ear piercing shrieks met them out in the living room. Leigha was standing on the couch again, her Snoopy bowl upturned on the floor. When she noticed her parents Leigha paused for a minute, startled, before breaking in to a smile.

"Thems all gone!"

* * *

Leigha, expectedly, refused to sleep and ended up in Mulder and Scully's bed where her and Mulder proceeded to watch some terribly produced sci-fi monster movie well past 10:00.

"You need to get some real packing done today," Scully said, buckling a half way conscious Leigha in to her carseat the next morning. Her voice was only pretending to be threatening. She was initially upset when she found out how late Mulder and Leigha had stayed up but she could only be so mad when feeding their two year old a bowlful of M and M's and letting her stay up to watch a monster movie was such a _Daddy Mulder thing to do_. It was all she ever thought about as she lay in bed at night pregnant with William. Mulder holding a tiny baby. A tiny little child grabbing ahold of Mulder's pants and staring up at him like he was the greatest thing ever.

Mulder smiled sheepishly, hands in his pockets when Scully pulled her head out of the backseat.

"Oh, come on, Scully. These are the only days a week I'm not bogged down by women."

Scully's eyebrows nearly flew off her head and Mulder laughed, leaning in for a long kiss that she readily accepted. They lingered there outside the car before a tiny voice broke the silence.

"My turn, Muldger!"

The two of them laughed, Mulder sticking most of his upper body in to the backseat to hover of his daughter. Leigha held out her arms.

"Me, me, kiss me!"

"What is my name?"

"Muldger!" Leigha squeaked excitedly, long tufts of hair swishing in to her face. "Muldger, Fox Muldger!"

Mulder narrowed his eyes playfully and Leigha sighed, a sound identical to her mother's. "Daddy."

He kissed Leigha's forehead and nose and finally her permanently sticky mouth.

"See you later, Leigha Muldger."

"See you later, Daddy. Pack our toys!"

Mulder gave Scully a look when he climbed back out of the car.

"I knew you were in cohorts."

* * *

On Leigha's two designated preschool days a week Mulder usually picked her up after lunch. On the rare occasion she'd stay until Scully got of work at 5:30 or 6. Today, Mulder was intent on packing but Scully had called two hours before she had left the house and informed him that they had somehow spaced Leigha's check-up scheduled for that afternoon.

"How's the packing going?" Scully asked, flitting around her office, trying to get things ready for the day, her phone nestled on her shoulder. The hospital hallways buzzed with activity outside her door.

"Eh, going," Mulder answered, flipping through some old Inquirer magazines. _Crop circles outside Dallas, UFO sighting in Reno. _It was all a bit distracting. The dreary weather made him want to go back to bed.

"Mulder!" Scully scolded, bringing him back. "You need to focus."

"Scully," Mulder said gently. "Don't worry, okay? It'll get done. And if it doesn't, I guess we'll just become more acquainted with the retail stores in the finer D.C area..."

There was silence from the other end but Mulder could feel Scully's emotion. "Scully?"

"Don't forget to pick up Leigha."


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks a ton for the follows guys!

So, I know I have already forewarned you, but this chapter is pretty much just super fluffy goodness.

:)

xo,

Dru

* * *

III.

There weren't a lot of things that Mulder loathed. Sitting out in the waiting room at the hospital was one of those things. He'd never understand why parents wailed at their kids to "sit still" with very little entertainment at their disposal. Leigha was currently making it her mission to pile as many books in to Mulder's lap as she could. He was currently distracted by a mother trying to wrestle her shaggy haired son in to his seat. His thoughts fleeted to William. Mulder was sure Leigha would have adored an older brother, imaging her dedicating all that endless energy in to copying everything he did.

"Daddy!" Leigha hit her hand on the continually growing pile of books, a few of them sliding off of Mulder's lap and to the floor. Her expression was questioning. "Read!" Her blonde hair was framing her tiny face, still so much baby left in there. Any attempts Scully made to put it up were almost always thwarted instantly. "Read, daddy!" Mulder bent forward, putting his arm around Leigha's shoulders and pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. He was met by flaily resistance as Leigha tried pulling away. "NO, DADDY!"

Her outburst was lost in the already chaotic waiting room.

"Sheesh," Mulder said, sitting back in his chair with his hands up in fake peace. "Someone needs a nap...,"

Leigha's entire face scrunched in obvious aggravation, another perfectly acquired Scully trait. All Mulder could do was laugh.

Once called in to an exam room, Leigha insisted they bring a book about the solar system. A nurse instructed Mulder to undress her which was met with more unruliness.

"What...is...the..._matter_?"

The nurse had left them to wait for Leigha's pediatrician. Tears streamed down Leigha's cheeks, clad now only in her Captain America underwear. They were in the midst of potty training and both Mulder and Scully were stumped when they had let Leigha loose to pick out her own underwear and she returned with the super hero clad ones.

"Mommy...," Leigha moaned miserably. Mulder knew this was all his fault, he shouldn't have let her stay up so late. She sank to the floor between Mulder's legs and continued to sniffle pitifully. Mulder flipped through her solar system book. Pluto was still a planet. Leigha curled herself around one of Mulder's legs in an unspoken apology and Mulder anchored his huge hand to the top of her head. It was then that Leigha's twelve year old looking doctor came in to the room, accompanied by the nurse from before. Mulder pulled Leigha to his chest as he stood up to shake his hand, the doctor greeting them in that overzealous way doctor's do.

"And how is this little lady doing?" He offered Leigha, who smiled tentatively but curled further in to Mulder, his hand. Leigha hit it in a high five and was quick to look to Mulder for approval. Her doctor pulled his hand back, pretending like it had hurt, fussing over her, noting on how friendly she was and how she must have remembered him from last time. Mulder debated whether or not to tell him that, if they had presented Leigha with a pile of bricks she would've found a way to make friends with it.

Leigha went with the doctor without complaint but kept her eyes fixated on Mulder as he started the exam, making all sorts of coos and strange noises and shaking an obnoxiously bright, loud duck above his head for Leigha's eyes to follow. She only looked at Mulder, her eyes questioning, her face clearly reading "_Daddy, who is this nutcase_?" Mulder sat quietly, balancing his elbows on his knees, smiling at his ridiculously cute kid.

"Everything looks good," her doctor handed Leigha's file over to the nurse who began typing in to a computer in the corner of the room. "She's gaining weight wonderfully." Mulder stood up to stand next to the exam table where Leigha sat patiently.

"Must be all those M and M's," Mulder said, pushing hair out of Leigha's eyes as she beamed up at him. Her doctor laughed far too loudly.

"We're doing two shots today, Dad. You can hold her if you want."

Before he could answer, there was a knock on the door and a familiar head poked in. Leigha's eyes ballooned.

"MOMMY!"

She all but leapt off the table, Scully laughing in to her hair. "Hi, baby." She smiled at Mulder and took the chair next to his, Leigha's doctor (Scully called him Tom) briefed her on everything. Mulder's arm fell around Scully's shoulder as Leigha's doctor scooted forward to swab the side of one of Leigha's still chubby baby legs. She arched herself against Scully looking at her upside down. Scully pressed a kiss to the bridge of her nose, Leigha's eyes fluttering shut.

"Where is our new house, Ley?" Scully asked, distracting, as the first shot went in.

"Deee Ceee!" Leigha was able to answer before whimpering. The second one came quickly after and she began to screech unhappily.

"All done," Scully soothed softly. Leigha let herself be cradled, inhaling her mother's scent, continuing to whine. Mulder rested his head against Scully's, rubbing the tip of his finger along the bridge of Leigha's nose.

"We're here."

* * *

Shots mixed with a late night and a huge lunch with mommy was a perfect recipe for an afternoon of napping in front of Disney movies. While his fussy toddler dozed in and out on the couch, Mulder was able to get a considerable amount of packing done. Most of their bedroom and Leigha's, half of his office.

The I Want to Believe poster would come down last.

* * *

"Mulder, she feels hot."

Scully hadn't gotten home until nearly 8:30 after a late case had stolen her back in to the hospital on her way out the door. Mulder and Leigha had sat on the couch and ate macaroni and cheese and the last of the grapes while watching the end of 101 Dalmatians.

"Probably just the shots," Mulder called from the kitchen, warming up some leftovers for Scully, his voice muffled over his full mouth of whatever handful of stuff he was snacking on. He knew Scully obviously already knew this but the affirmation was comforting and she needed everything she could get that night, the stress over their impending move beginning to take longer and longer to leave each day.

"Momma, look, bunnies," Leigha said lazily, sprawled across Scully's lap in the living room, eyes still glued to the TV. She was wrapped in a yellow, baby bird blanket, a gift from Scully's mother.

"Like you," Scully murmured, tucking hair behind Leigha's ear as Mulder came back in to the room with a bowl of noodles. Leigha laughed brightly.

"Na uh!" she yelped. "I'm a girl!"

"My mistake!" Scully conceded.

* * *

After a sleepy discussion, Mulder exhausted from packing and Scully from her longer than usual day at the hospital, they both agreed to just bring Leigha to bed with them again. She was fully awake after having napped all afternoon.

"Nemo, mommy! Nemo, Nemo, Finding Nemo!" Leigha declared, standing in the middle of her and Mulder's bed in a little pink night gown. Her face scrunched as tiny jolts of pain shot through her legs and her body was forced back on to the bed, whimpering in confusion. "Owie."

"Baby, you have to sit still so your owies can get better," Scully said distractedly, throwing her clothes across a chair in the corner as Leigha pulled up her night gown and examined the two band aids on her leg carefully. One was Transformers, the other was Finding Nemo. Mulder was already half asleep by the time his head hit the pillow, Leigha crawling quickly over to his head and wrapping her arms around it while Scully finished getting ready.

"Are you going to help me pack for Dee Cee tomorrow, kid?" Mulder asked, rubbing Leigha's back as he kept his face nestled against the body still curled around him. Leigha nodded vigorously.

"Yes, Deeee Ceeee," Leigha sang gently, patting Mulder's head. Once Scully crawled in to bed Mulder stole kisses from the both of them before rolling over and promptly falling asleep.

"Mommy, we see Nemo?"

The toddler's eyes looked huge in the dark, staring at Scully expectantly. She ran her hand through Leigha's soft hair, still damp and sweet smelling from her bath. Scully sighed.

"Yes...but just for a little while."

A little while turned out to be the entirety of the movie. Scully knew she had seen it before, but really being able to just lay with Leigha and watch every one of her little reactions was priceless. All was going well, despite the fact that Scully was beginning to hate herself for allowing her daughter another late night, until the credits started rolling and a familiar song started to steadily fill the room.

_Somewhere beyond the sea, somewhere waiting for me..._

Leigha was yawning, rolling her body towards Scully in preparation for sleep, but Scully's breath had hitched in her throat and tears were threatening to spill down her cheeks. Leigha blinked patiently at her as Scully took a few shaky deep breaths.

"Momma...," Leigha whispered, her little head at Scully's hip. "Momma cryin'?"

"No, baby," Scully insisted quickly, grabbing for the remote and turning off the TV. Her voice had surely given her away as Leigha continued to stare at her, concerned. She sat back up. "That song...it just reminds me of grandpa."

"Gampa," Leigha repeated. "A-a-ahab." She sounded out every syllable and grinned as Scully laughed through her tears. It killed her that her father, someone who would have loved this little girl to bits and pieces, would only be a character in a story for Leigha. Scully cupped her baby's face, rubbing her thumb across her still warm cheek.

"That's right, baby," Scully whispered. "Ahab loves you."

Leigha fell in to another yawning spell, repostioning herself around Scully's arm.

"I love you," Leigha answered simply, her "love" coming out in a baby accent as this weird, French "lauve" sounding sort of word.

Scully murmured the rest of the song in to Leigha's hair as the both of them finally surrendered to sleep.


End file.
